In a future world under attack from the undead, the powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch and freewheeling ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing human liars and banishing the wicked dead.

Unholy Magic: Downside Ghosts, Book 2

For freewheeling ghost hunter Chess Putnam, finding herself near-fatally poisoned by a con psychic and then stopping a murderous ghost is just another day on the job. An agent for the Church of Real Truth, she investigates claims of harassment by the undead. But Chess has been extra busy these days, coping with a new “celebrity” assignment while trying on her own time to help some desperate prostitutes.

City of Ghosts: Downside Ghosts, Book 3

Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’ bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack the grisly case.

Sacrificial Magic: Downside Ghosts, Book 4

When Chess Putnam is ordered by an infamous crime boss—who also happens to be her drug dealer—to use her powers as a witch to solve a grisly murder involving dark magic, she knows she must rise to the challenge. Adding to the intensity, her boyfriend, Terrible, doesn’t trust her, and Lex, the son of a rival crime lord, is trying to reignite the old sparks between them.

Chasing Magic

Magic-wielding Churchwitch and secret addict Chess Putnam knows better than anyone just how high a price people are willing to pay for a chemical rush. But when someone with money to burn and a penchant for black magic starts tampering with Downside’s drug supply, Chess realizes that the unlucky customers are paying with their souls—and taking the innocent with them, as the magic-infused speed compels them to kill in the most gruesome ways possible.

Eighth Grave After Dark

With 12 hellhounds after her, pregnant Charley Davidson takes refuge at the only place she thinks they can't get to her: the grounds of an abandoned convent. But after months of being cooped up there, Charley is ready to pop. Both metaphorically and literally, since she is now roughly the size of a beached whale. Fortunately a new case has captured her attention, one that involves a murder on the very grounds the team has taken shelter upon.

Dark Heir: Jane Yellowrock, Book 9

For centuries, the extremely powerful and ruthless vampire witches of the European Council have wandered the Earth, controlling governments, fostering war, creating political conflict, and often leaving absolute destruction in their wake. One of the strongest of them is set to create some havoc in the city of New Orleans, and it's definitely personal.

A Shift in the Water: Elemental Shifter, Book 1

Cade Bowman leads a small werewolf pack in Bellingham, Washington. Or he does before a fire elemental intent on revenge traps him as his wolf. His pack gone, held prisoner by the elemental's charms, he knows death is coming for him.

Magic Breaks: Kate Daniels, Book 7

No matter how much the paranormal politics of Atlanta change, one thing always remains the same: If there' s trouble, Kate Daniels will be in the middle of it. As the mate of the Beast Lord, Curran, former mercenary Kate Daniels has more responsibilities than it seems possible to juggle. Not only is she still struggling to keep her investigative business afloat, she must now deal with the affairs of the pack, including preparing her people for attack from Roland, a cruel ancient being with god-like powers.

Spider's Trap

One important lesson I've learned in the assassination business is that to be the best, you have to roll with the punches. Now that I'm queen of Ashland's underworld - by default, not by choice - a lot more punches are being thrown my way. But I suppose that's the price of victory for taking down some of the underworld's top dogs. Good thing I have my Ice and Stone magic to help me survive my volatile new position.

Burned

Another shockingly suspenseful installment in #1 New York Times best-selling author Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. Burned picks up right where the surprising conclusion of Iced left off, and will feature beloved characters Mac and Dani O'Malley as they embark on another high-octane adventure in the Fever world.

Tempest Rising: Jane True, Book 1

During her nightly, clandestine swim in the freezing winter ocean, a grisly find leads Jane to startling revelations about her heritage: she is only half-human. Now, Jane must enter a world filled with supernatural creatures that are terrifying, beautiful, and deadly — all of which perfectly describe her new “friend,” Ryu, a gorgeous and powerful vampire.

Dead Heat: Alpha and Omega, Book 4

For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles' role as his father's enforcer. This time their trip to Arizona is purely personal, as Charles plans to buy Anna a horse for her birthday. Or at least it starts out that way....

The Light Who Shines: Bluebell Kildare Series, Book 1

When Supernatural Investigation Bureau agent Bluebell Kildare (a.k.a. Blue) arrives at the scene of the crime, it's obvious the grotesquely damaged body of the deceased teenage boy was caused by far more than a simple hit and run; and she vows to catch the killer. Using her innate sixth sense, Blue uncovers a powerful magical artifact nearby. She soon discovers it acts as a key to an ancient Grimoire that was instrumental in the creation of the Vampire breed and still holds the power to unravel the boundaries between Earth and the Plane of Fire.

Darkness Haunts: The Sensor, Book 1

Melena Sanders faced her fair share of danger with insurgents and terrorists when she served in the U.S. Army, but now she is about to go up against a new threat. Her best friend, Aniya, has disappeared while on a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska - a supernatural haven. Most humans have no idea darker races lurk amongst them. Mel knows better. If she wants to get her friend back, she's going to have to go in alone - but not unarmed. Melena has a few special skills the Army didn't provide, but the odds are still against her.

Written in Red: A Novel of the Others

As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut - a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg's Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard - a business district operated by the Others. Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job.

Dead Witch Walking

Rachel Morgan is a runner with the Inderland Runner Services, apprehending law-breakers throughout Cincinnati. She's also a witch, one of the many Inderlanders who revealed themselves after a genetically engineered virus wiped out 50 percent of humanity. Witches, warlocks, vampires, werewolves: the creatures of dreams and nightmares have lived beside humans for centuries, hiding their powers. But now they've stopped hiding, and nothing will be the same.

Magic Bites: Kate Daniels, Book 1

Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren't for the magic. When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Vengeance of the Demon: Kara Gillian, Book 7

Louisiana homicide detective and demon summoner Kara Gillian is about to learn that vengeance is a dish best served cold - especially when dealing with supernatural crime. But with her closest friends now in harm's way, the demons just made this one personal.

Bound by Flames: Night Prince, Book 3

Leila's years on the carnie circuit were certainly an education. What she didn't learn: how to be a vampire, or how to be married to the most famous vampire of them all. Adjusting to both has Leila teetering on a knife edge between passion and peril, and now the real danger is about to begin...

Clean Sweep

On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast.

The Witch with No Name: The Hollows, Book 13

In The Witch with No Name, Kim Harrison brings back her wildly popular heroine for one final, epic battle. Rachel Morgan's come a long way from the klutzy runner fleeing a bad job. She's faced vampires and werewolves, banshees, witches, and soul-eating demons. She's crossed worlds, channeled gods, and accepted her place as a day-walking demon. She's lost friends and lovers and family, and an old enemy has become something much more.

Magic Rises

Mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate, Curran, the Beast Lord, are struggling to solve a heartbreaking crisis. Unable to control their beasts, many of the Pack’s shape-shifting children fail to survive to adulthood. While there is a medicine that can help, the secret to its making is closely guarded by the European packs, and there’s little available in Atlanta. Kate can’t bear to watch innocents suffer, but the solution she and Curran have found threatens to be even more painful. The European shape-shifters who once outmaneuvered the Beast Lord have asked him to arbitrate a dispute - and they’ll pay him in medicine.

Dark Debt: Chicagoland Vampires, Book 11

When a figure from Ethan's dark past makes a splashy debut in Chicago, Merit and her master don't know whether he's friend or foe. But they'll have to figure it out soon because trouble is brewing in the Windy City. At an exclusive society soirée attended by the upper echelons of the human and supernatural worlds, Merit and Ethan barely stop the assassination of a guest. When the target turns out to be a shady businessman with a criminal edge, Merit suspects a human vendetta. But the assassins have fangs.

The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire

Gigi is no longer an innocent teen. All grown up and looking for love, her family and friends worry she'll go for the sexy, alluring vampire instead of a nice, safe human. But sexy and alluring, with a penchant for biting, could be just what Gigi wants...

Publisher's Summary

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack.

In a future world under attack from the undead, the powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch and freewheeling ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing human liars and banishing the wicked dead. But she’s keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that’s landed her in hot water.

Chess owes a lot of money to a dangerous drug lord who wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in a dangerous attraction to the drug lord’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.

What the Critics Say

“Gripping….Vivid characters and a wonderful sense of place….I was enthralled.” (Charlaine Harris, New York Times best-selling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels)

“Unholy Ghosts is a wonderful, weird, wild tale filled with gritty magic, punk rock, and macabre spirits. Kane’s world is dark, dangerous, and haunted, populated by hustlers, junkies and exorcists…and you’ll never want to leave. Simply the best book I’ve read this year.” (Caitlin Kittredge, author of Street Magic)

I had no expectations going into this book. At first I thought the reader sounded a little young for the main character but then realized that she needed the vocal range for all the other characters. This is a very dark, very gritty urban fantasy series. The basic set up is that in 1997 all the dead's spirits rose and started killing people...lots of people...almost all the people. The few practitioners of magic in the world eventually managed to prove themselves as true witches and banished the ghosts to the City of Ghosts under ground and a whole new post-apocalyptic world began. The main character, Cesaria Putnam is a Church Witch who debunks false hauntings. She's also a functioning drug addict. She's a powerful witch but ultimately as a drug addict hiding her addiction she's vulnerable to anyone who decides to blackmail her. The story is basically a mystery in an unexpected world with some wonderfully colorful and sometimes very cruel characters. I found the world building to be fantastic and the depiction of the life of a functioning drug addict was pretty harsh and exceedingly accurate. I personally fell in love with these characters (a stand out is Terrible, the local drug dealer's enforcer who is a whole lot more than he seems at first) and quite specifically the whole Downside patois and vibe. I have to say the reader for this audio book absolutely knocked it out of the park. I honestly don't know if I would have found the books (I have actually listened to all that are available now...BRILLIANT) as affecting if I hadn't been listening to Bahni Turpin's interpretation of the various characters. Really stellar work.

I started Unholy Ghost in October on my Nook. I could not get past chapter five. Either I wasn’t in the mood for it or it was the slang that got me.

"You won't talk to me, you don't talk to anyone else, you just hang around here in your precious ghetto with all these f-ing crazy people who talk like they've never heard a proper word spoken in their lives...."

But some blogger friends keep raving about the series. So I decided to give it another try but this time around I did it in audio book format, thinking it would help me get into the slang that is used by so many of the characters. BINGO.

I’ve read other reviews where people had a hard time liking or connecting with Chess because she is an addict. But I love the fact that Chess is not your typical heroine. Her world is dark and gritty and she’s had a crappy life growing up. She talks about bouncing around from foster homes. How the dads or even the moms would sexually abuse her. And since she has no support group to help her out; it kind of makes sense that she would turn to prescription meds to numb the things done to her.

Even though I personally can’t related to someone with an addiction, I believe reading it through Chess’s eyes gives me a little bit of understanding why someone in her position would live the way she does. But with as much as she takes I don’t see how she has not overdose by now.

Her addiction is what brings Terrible into her life. He is the muscle for Chess’s drug dealer, Bump. (I just love the names that Kane has come up with her for characters.) Bump informs Chess that her debt to him has doubled because of interest which is BS and she calls him on it. Bump tells her if she helps him with his problem with ghosts at an airport that he plans to use to bring in drugs that he will clear her debt with him.After Chess reluctantly agrees to the deal she is teamed up with Terrible to complete the job. We first see Terrible the way Chess does, big guy with little thoughts. But has the two work together Chess’s view (and mine) of Terrible changes when see she how he truly is. He is self taught, the helps out weaker people in the city like kids. And he becomes someone that she can trust, which is a first for her. You can see a romance building between the two which is something that Chess doesn’t do. She is more into one night stands so that she doesn’t get hurt.

Over all Unholy Ghosts is a great start to a very dark Urban Fantasy series. But it’s not all dark there is some humor mixed in with Chess’s sassy attitude.

“If Mrs. Morton would stop verbally jacking off her husband and son, this would all be done so much more quickly, but then Chess figured it was just about the only sex the woman got.”

Unholy Ghosts is a MUST READ for Urban Fantasy fans! After hearing that each book is better than the last, I can’t wait to jump into Unholy Magic.

Yes I loved this story. Chess owes a lot of money to a dangerous drug lord who wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. However Chess has several problems one of which is a nasty drug addiction. She has to do all of this without her employer knowing she is involved with such seedy characters. To complicate matters she starts to have feelings for her druglords enforcer, a dangerous, uneducated, street smart thug. To further complicate things she starts a relationship with a rival druglord son. Convoluted, gritty, dark.....yes all this and more.

Now for the Narrator. Bahni Turpin has to be one of the most talented narrators in the business. Her command of various voices, inflection, deflection, male voices,and street talk(slang) were simply outstanding.

Yes, yes get this book. I know this type of book isn't for everyone but this one was so very good. Not for the weak or fluffly brained.

I have read all three books in this series. (I think there will be six in all). What can I say, they just keep getting better and better.
The narrator, Bahni Turpin, is so good, that I have bought books just because she is the narrator. Ever heard of a little book called "The Help"?! SMILE, she is just that good.

Stacia Kane is one of my favorite authors. I love her characters, Terrible being my favoriite.

suspensful, shivery. I like Chess. She is a fighter, she gets her job done and seems to stick to her word even when she would rather not. And who doesn't love a muscle car.( the guy driving it is pretty exciting, too) We need more of Chess and the people that inhabit that dark, gritty, interesting world.

Takes awhile to get into these books, but by the the end of the second one I was hooked. Bahni Turpin is the best choice of narrator for this series. Gritty and not a pretty story, but fascinating at the same time.

Stepping into Stacia Kane’s Downside world was like walking into an alternate universe where the Church reigns supreme, ghosts have wiped out two thirds of the population and the residents speak a language that’s entirely their own. The magical rules are numerous and complex, the world-building is extremely heavy and the influx of new terminology is beyond confounding. To sum it up in one word I felt lost. Thank goodness for my GoodReads support group because otherwise I don’t think I would have been able to make it through this audiobook in its entirety. Then again, I felt similarly when I first started reading Karen Marie Moning’s Fever novels which now rank among my favourite Urban Fantasy series’ of all time so understandably, I’m going to stick this one out a bit longer. At least until I discover what all of the fuss over Terrible is about!

I really struggled to connect with the main heroine, Chess. Her drug addiction frustrated me to no end; although I can understand the whys behind it, I still had a difficult time comprehending her need to dull her senses, especially given how dangerous Downside really is. You’d think she’d want to have her wits about her in case a murderous ghost decides to cross her path. Chess is a debunker for the Church of Real Truth which means that she’s supposedly one of their most highly trained employees. I found this hard to believe considering she does her job high on most days. A large portion of the mistakes she makes and her delayed light bulb moments during an investigation are caused by her drug use. There were times when I just wanted to yell “if you’d stop doing lines for one freaking minute you might be able figure this sh*t out!” I liked that she’s a flawed heroine but I also would have liked to see her sober for at least one chapter.

The world-building and terminology are definitely going to take some getting used to. I can’t help but wonder if I’m being penalized once again for choosing to listen to this book over reading it because I’m thinking that the physical copy probably comes with a glossary. On the flip side, I think listening to the audiobook does have a few advantages, namely being able to better grasp the Downside lingo. I like that Kane invented her own language for this series; it helps to set it apart from the crowd. I’m not going to comment too much on Bahni Turpin’s narration in this review because I was more focused on grasping the world than on her overall performance so I’ll save my feedback on that for my second kick at the can when I check out Unholy Magic.

After feeling immense pressure from my fellow reviewers to LOVE this book I can’t help but be a little disappointed that I wasn’t immediately swept off my feet by Stacia Kane’s first Downside installment. The plot’s entertaining, the dialogue’s memorable and the world-building left me in awe but the drug addicted protagonist was difficult to swallow (pun intended). Heroine and druggie do not belong in the same sentence in my opinion. Here’s hoping that my second trip into Downside will be better than my first.

This series has been a real find and a total surprise. I purchased the first one after reading some amazing reviews but was unsure what to expect. The heroine is a drug addict?? However, Chess is such a vulnerable and complex character that the listener can't help but love her. She is insecure, brave, clever, and full of contradictions. She is a fascinating protagonist and gets more interesting with each installment. Stacia Kane's world is edgy and unique. At times it is genuinely scary and at others it is grim, yet there is still love and hope to be found. Terrible and Lex add to a wonderful cast of rich characters. The other great thing about this series is the magnificent performances by Bahni Turpin. I honestly think the best way to experience these books is to hear her read them. She is superb - probably the best narrator I have heard. The books come to life and the characters are voiced so well its impossible to think of them sounding any other way. If you're a fan of urban fantasy with an edge this series is one of the best. I bought the first one and was so captivated I purchased all the others and had them finished in a week. Then I started again!

Wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy the audio of this series, but the reader is awesome! After purchasing the first book in the series and listening, I promptly bought the remaining audiobooks. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE this series and the audio version is fantastic!

This starts out kind of confusing, leaving you wondering if you skipped through a part, but it does come together if you hang there. Lots of drug use but it gets hard to put down. I found myself finding things to do so I could keep listening. This will appeal to fans of LK Hamilton and Kim Harrison. Undead in the context it's used in the publisher's blurb doesn't mean zombies, more along the lines of ghosts.

Ches is not a charchter you expect to like, a flawed heroine. She has her problems which make you want to dislike her, but the more you read the more you come to understand her lifestyle choices. I found the world and the other charachters helped build this unusual paranormal mystery.

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